History of Liverpool F.C. - Criticism of Fans By UEFA

Criticism of Fans By UEFA

Following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, Liverpool Football Club was banned for an additional three years from competing in UEFA competitions (on top of the already unlimited ban imposed on all English teams) and their fans were blamed wholly for the disaster and 39 deaths. This ban was later increased to one additional year, meaning Liverpool could not enter the 1990/91 European Cup competition.

On 4 June 2007, UEFA spokesman William Gaillard was quoted in media reports citing a UEFA report claiming that Liverpool fans were 'the worst fans in Europe'.

The most publicised claims from the report were that 'fans stole tickets from children' and that 'fans without tickets charged entry gates'. Furthermore, Gaillard claimed that up to '25 incidents involving Liverpool fans' had occurred since 2003, and were outlined in the report compiled by an unnamed police force in Europe.

Liverpool F.C. Chief Executive Rick Parry responded to the criticism which mainly focused on the 2007 Champions League final in Athens. He said that "To have a stadium with no counting system and no turnstiles is unforgivable for any standard of the game, let alone a major final.". Parry himself was criticised for effectively endorsing the fans behaviour by saying "We have told Uefa there will be 40,000 Liverpool fans in the ground by hook or by crook" in the build up to the match.

Co-Chairman Tom Hicks went further, labelling Gaillard 'a clown', and continuing "It's a classic case of a bureaucrat trying to take the pressure off himself. They didn't handle it right; they didn't have proper ticketing procedures and unfortunately there were counterfeit tickets".

However, Phil Hammond, who lost his son Philip at Hillsborough in 1989 and is chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, was also critical of the behaviour of the Liverpool fans, saying:

"My heart sank as I stood and watched what was happening. After what happened in Sheffield in 1989 I couldn’t believe Liverpool fans, of all people, could do such dangerous things. I honestly feared people were going to get crushed and we were going to have another Hillsborough. It was disgusting. The people who stormed into the stadium are the scum of the earth. They put at risk hundreds of lives and should be ashamed of themselves. The vast majority of Liverpool fans are impeccably behaved, but there has always been a hard core of mindless thugs that ruin it for the rest. It hurts me to say this, but I won’t be following Liverpool on their travels in future."

However, by 6 June 2007, UEFA president Michel Platini had retracted the accusation. Platini said that "No they are not the worst behaved in Europe...It's official, they are not the worst behaved."

On 7 June 2007 it was reported that the report handed to British Minister for Sport and Tourism Richard Caborn did not contain any of the purported '25 incidents involving Liverpool fans', and that he – along with Platini – considered the matter closed. It was also stated that UEFA spokesman Gaillard would possibly face disciplinary action over his original comments, which he now suggested had been misquoted.